Twitter Gets Dumb During Breaking News

Ask anyone who watches the news and they’ll admit that this wasn’t the finest hour for the media. CNN botching facts, NYPost putting pictures of innocent men on their cover, InfoWars saying this is a government coverup. OK, it’s a stretch to refer to the jerkoffs at InfoWars as “media,” but, suffice it to say, it got ugly out there.

Welcome to the wee hours of Friday morning, when a manhunt got underway to bring the alleged Boston bombers to justice, and Twitter tried to keep up. It was a great source of breaking news and information. It’s also an incredible way to spread total bullshit very quickly. In the midst of everything, some people just didn’t know WHAT the hell to tweet. We’ve rounded up choice comments that left us scratching our heads and wondering what the hell they were trying to say.

In the moments after the first suspect was gunned down, ABC’s Gio Benitez reported that “suspect #2 is apparently prepared to die in a confrontation with police.” No shit? You mean the guys who had BOMBS strapped to their chests are ready to die? Thanks for the update Gio. On that same note, Bloomberg‘s Scott Bixby tweeted, “With the first suspect’s death, the second suspect may be the best lead into the investigation.” Well, I would hope so, Scotty. The dead co-conspirator in the case may actually lead to a break in the case? Ace reporting!

Others had questions. National Review’s Jim Geraghty asked, “So, did these guys stay in touch with anybody back in the old country?” I wonder if the Feds had thought to ask that question. Smart take, Jimmy! Jeff Greenfield tweeted, “Question to be asked at some point: how do civilians acquire an arsenal of explosives that –reportedly–included grenades?” Has Jeff not been watching the gun control debate? It’s relatively easy to build an arsenal like that these days.

Then, there are the tweets that have priceless timing. In the middle of the drama, Breitbart‘s Lisa DePasquale tweeted, “Dream last night: I was at a seminar abt freezing your eggs. Theme was #BurnNotice, which is why I went. : /” We think we get this one. Lisa has been taking classes in the J-Mart school of tweeting.

Things got so crazy that MSNBC contributor Joy Reid tapped out before 8:30 a.m. She wrote, “I need to get off Twitter for awhile. Done. Just … Done.”

Farewell, Joy. Dipping into the crazy waters of Twitter during a free-for-all reported manhunt can certainly take a toll.